[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 241 (Monday, December 16, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76142-76143]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-29808]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9904-13-Region-3]
Adequacy Status of the Submitted Attainment Plan for the Delaware
Portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-New Jersey 1997 Fine Particulate
Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standard Nonattainment Area for
Transportation Conformity Purposes
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy.
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SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public that EPA has found
that the Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets (MVEBs) in the Delaware
portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-New Jersey 1997 fine particulate
matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS)
Attainment Plan, submitted as a State Implementation Plan (SIP)
revision on April 25, 2012 by the Delaware Department of Natural
Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), are adequate for
transportation conformity purposes. As a result of EPA's finding, the
State of Delaware must use the out-year 2012 MVEBs from the April 25,
2012 Attainment Plan for future conformity determinations for the 1997
PM2.5 NAAQS.
DATES: This final rule is effective on December 31, 2013.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gregory Becoat, Environmental
Scientist, Office of Air Program Planning (3AP30), United States
Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19103, (215) 814-2036; [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Today's notice is simply an announcement of
a finding that EPA has already made. EPA Region III sent a letter to
the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
on November 7, 2013 stating that EPA has found that the MVEBs in the
Attainment Plan for budget year 2009 and out-year 2012, submitted on
April 25, 2012 by DNREC, are adequate for transportation conformity
purposes. As a result of EPA's finding, the State of Delaware
[[Page 76143]]
must use the out-year 2012 MVEBs from the April 25, 2012 Attainment
Plan for future conformity determinations in the Delaware portion of
the Philadelphia-Wilmington-New Jersey 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS
nonattainment area. Receipt of the submittal was announced on EPA's
transportation conformity Web site. No comments were received. The
findings letter is available at EPA's conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm. The adequate
direct PM and nitrogen oxides (NOX) MVEBs are provided in
Table 1.
Table 1. Delaware Portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-New Jersey 1997
PM2.5 NAAQS Attainment Demonstration MVEBs for Direct PM and NOX
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mobile vehicle
emissions Mobile vehicle
Budget years budget for emissions
direct PM-tons budget for NOX-
per year tons per year
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2009.................................... 257 8,448
2012.................................... 199 6,273
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Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the
Clean Air Act (CAA). EPA's conformity rule requires that transportation
plans, transportation improvement programs, and projects conform to
SIPs and establishes the criteria and procedures for determining
whether or not they do. Conformity to a SIP means that transportation
activities will not produce new air quality violations, worsen existing
violations, or delay timely attainment of the national ambient air
quality standards.
The criteria by which we determine whether a SIP's MVEBs are
adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4).
EPA described the process for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP
budgets in a July 1, 2004 preamble starting at 69 FR 40038 and used the
information in these resources in making this adequacy determination.
Delaware did not provide emission budgets for sulfur dioxide
(SO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), or ammonia for the
Delaware portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-New Jersey
nonattainment area because it concluded that emissions of these
precursors from motor vehicles are not significant contributors to the
area's PM2.5 air quality problem. The transportation
conformity rule provision at 40 CFR 93.102(b)(2)(v) indicates that
conformity does not apply for these precursors, due to the lack of
MVEBs for these precursors and the State's conclusion that motor
vehicle emissions of SO2, VOCs, and ammonia do not
contribute significantly to the area's PM2.5 nonattainment
problem. This provision of the transportation conformity rule predates
and was not disturbed by the January 4, 2013 decision in the litigation
on the PM2.5 implementation rule.\1\ EPA has preliminarily
concluded that the State's decision to not include budgets for
SO2, VOCs, and ammonia is consistent with the requirements
of the transportation conformity rule. That decision does not affect
EPA's adequacy finding for the submitted direct PM and NOX
MVEBs for the Delaware portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-New
Jersey nonattainment area.
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\1\ EPA issued conformity regulations to implement the 1997
PM2.5 NAAQS in July 2004 and May 2005 (69 FR 40004, July
1, 2004 and 70 FR 24280, May 6, 2005, respectively). Those actions
were not part of the final rule recently remanded to EPA by the
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in NRDC v. EPA, No.
08-1250 (Jan. 4, 2013), in which the Court remanded to EPA the
implementation rule for the PM2.5 NAAQS because it
concluded that EPA must implement that NAAQS pursuant to the PM-
specific implementation provisions of subpart 4 of Part D of Title I
of the CAA, rather than solely under the general provisions of
subpart 1.
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Please note that an adequacy review is separate from EPA's
completeness review, and should not be used to prejudge EPA's ultimate
approval action for the SIP. Even if EPA finds a budget adequate, the
SIP could later be disapproved. The finding and the response to
comments are available at EPA's conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.
Dated: November 25, 2013.
W.C. Early,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.
[FR Doc. 2013-29808 Filed 12-13-13; 8:45 am]
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